Fall Odyssey 2006

September 21, 2006--Columbia, MO to Clarksville, MO (207 mi)

I was up at 8:15am and made myself a fresh waffle breakfast in the lobby of the Super 8 Motel. I should mention that as I drove on to Columbia the previous night and while I was on the cell phone with my friend Zenia I failed to notice that my fuel tank indicator needle was BURIED! I don't think I have ever seen it so low before!

The I-70 between Independence and Columbia, MO is surprizingly bereft of gas stations and I began to sense that I would be stranded for the night in the Missouri boonies. BUT, as luck would have it I eventually came upon a highway offramp which led me to a gas station and I was saved. I looked at my sales receipt afterwards and noticed that I had just purchased 16.3 gallons of fuel for my 17 gallon capacity fuel tank at a Phillips 66 station in Boonville, Missouri! So I actually WAS in the boonies! Go figure.

I drove to St. Louis, MO this morning. It was a somewhat overcast and breezy day, but I didn't care because my mind was singularly interested in where I was going to be in a few hours. In 1974 I first experienced the 360-degree film "America The Beautiful" at Disneyland. This film amazed my 8 year old self. There were so many places in America that I couldn't wait to see. The St. Louis Archway was one such place, and I was on deck to see it--yippee kai yeah!

I arrived at the Archway parking lot by 12:30pm and eagerly walked through the Mississippi riverfront park toward the curvy, towering edifice. I was excited like an 8 year old, and that felt good. I was 40 years old and life had lost a lot of its' savor by that point and here I was far from home and grinning at some dumb building. I loved it!

I watched the documentary of the building of the Arch (completed 1965) prior to ascending to the observation deck via those crazy ferris wheel elevator cabs. I was in line behind a couple in their 60's. The wife went on non-stop about how she didn't want to be there--how she could be shopping right now. At first I assessed her as being a real bitch to her husband in a public place until I paid closer attention. This lady was terrified to ride up the Archway! I carefully poked into their conversation and made chit chat about this being MY first visit to the Archway as well and that I was very excited. The woman took interest and asked me if I thought it was safe to ride that thing. I gave her a brief synopsis about Building Codes and Safety Factors in structures until I could see that she was calming down. I rode up with a group of 4 ladies in town for some Woman's Conference. One of them was also very nervous about riding up the Arch. I gave her the same pep talk.

I stayed up top the Arch for about one hour and enjoyed the view--especially the view of the Mississippi River which I am somewhat fascinated with. I guess I'm easily entertained. I left downtown St. Louis by 3:30pm and headed westward to get to Hwy 79 which was the highly anticipated Mississippi river road portion of my roadtrip. Unfortunately I stalled too long at the Mid Rivers Mall in O'Fallon, MO and it was dark out before I got started northward along the river. I was shopping for a new & better camera at Best Buy, but I never did settle on one.

I grabbed dinner at Chili's near the mall before heading out on the road again. I arrived at Clarksville, MO by 9pm and checked in at the riverside Clarksville Inn for the night (only $49). It was an old place--probably built in the 1940's. I liked it beCAUSE it was old though--and because it was only 50 yards off the west bank of the Mississipi at Lock & Dam 24 (see photo below). After checking in I went out for a walk around town. I discovered that Clarksville is a little artist's colony if nothing else. I did a little window shopping even though everything was closed for the night. I also walked right out to the shore of the River and up the hills to the west of the main town road and cruised through the isolated and well-treed neighborhoods to check out the big old mansion-esque homes. There was an eerieness to this night walk--the wind messed with my mind every chance it had. I love a little adventure though, and I returned satisfied to my little room at the inn around midnight.